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Shawn Matthews has been living a double life for almost a year. Now that his secret is out, life becomes even more difficult. Shawn is learning to balance his hectic lifestyle and carry on a relationship with the only girl that has ever made him want one. Will he be able to overcome the many obstacles that stand between them?

Jason and Nicole have had a hard time adjusting to the bombshell that was dropped on their relationship. Can they move past it without hurting each other in the process?

Carter and Madison still have a demon haunting them that won’t stop until they are ruined. Will they figure out his plans before it’s too late?

Fighting To Survive is the final book in the Guarded Hearts Series. It will test the strength, will and love of all the characters. This conclusion will have you laughing, crying and screaming for more.

I practically jump out of the car and run to the door when we pull up to the house. Just as I’m about to turn the knob, I feel a set of hands grab my hips and I let out a shriek. I turn my head to the side and Shawn’s face is only an inch from mine. My heartbeat immediately speeds up—having him this close to me with his hands where they are is torture.

“What if we give this a try and it doesn’t work?” he whispers in my ear, his hot breath giving me goose bumps all over.

“What if we give it a try and it does?” His fingers dig into my hipbones in response. I turn to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He walks me backward, presses me against the door, and kisses me. His lips are so soft and his tongue immediately finds its way into my mouth. He completely dominates me the same way he had earlier. When he pulls away, I can barely catch my breath.

“Okay, let’s give it a try.”

When I look into his eyes, he gives me a smile and then walks back to his truck. I stand there like an idiot until he pulls away and turns the corner.

**A Complimentary copy was provided by author**

~~ 4 Stars ~~

So I’ll start by saying this review might be on the short side, just because this book was shorter then the first 2. It also might be slightly vague because things that I want to put into this review would ruin the story for everyone.

Fighting to Survive is Book 3 of the Guarded Hearts series by Ashley Piscitelli. I thought this was a great concluding book to this series. This book is mainly about Shawn and Christen, but it also concludes the stories of all of the characters from the previous books. This book was an extremely quick read…I finished it in less then 6 hours. Part of that is because it is a shorter book (almost more like a novella) but also because it is so smoothly written that it just moves right along and before you know the story is over. Ashley gives us a bit of everything in this book. We got love, laughs, steam, drama, and even some suspense. My only real negative and why I didn’t give it 5 stars was because I didn’t think it was long enough. I felt that some of the parts were slightly rushed and could’ve been expanded on a little more. The suspense and drama part of the story happen pretty close to the end, which in turn made the conclusions of that part of the story pass too quickly. I also felt that the ending of the epilogue was kind of abrupt….the way the final sentence is stated it sort of leads me to believe that there could be a book for Holly someday. ( I wouldn’t be opposed to that at all…hint, hint 😉 ) With that said, I truly did enjoy this whole series and I am glad I got the chance to read it!!!!

We met Shawn and Christen in Book 2 of this series. They are both friends of Carter, Maddy, Jason, and Nicole. In book 2 Shawn is very secretive and the author never revealed anything until book 3. We did find out in book 2 that Christen has been attracted to Shawn since the day they met. So when book 3 starts and Shawn and Christen get together pretty quickly it actually really kind of works. I know a lot of people don’t like the insta-love thing but this scenario worked because they had met prior to getting together. Ashley also does a great job letting the reader know that it really doesn’t matter then length of time a couple have been together, when you know its right you just know. I really liked both Shawn and Christen’s characters. They both knew what they wanted out of life and were willing to whatever they had to, to make their dreams come true. I loved that Christen wasn’t the spoiled brat she could’ve turned into because she comes from money….she was very down to earth and knew she didn’t want to rely on her controlling parents. These two made a great couple.

As I said before I was glad to see Carter, Madison, Jason, Nicole, and Holly all in this story. I have absolutely fallen in love with each of these characters and their stories. I was glad to see that all the unanswered questions that still lingered on from book 1 and 2 were completely answered in book 3.

I would recommend this book/series to anyone looking for a quick series that is a great love story, with just enough drama and suspense to keep you coming back for more. I will definitely continue reading anything Ashley writes!!!!

Ashley Piscitelli lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and two dogs. On top a writing career, she is a full-time student and a full-time mom. She loves spending time with her kids, although she has to hide the computer from them when she is writing! She love being active and being outdoors, especially if it involves any kind of shopping.

She has always been passionate about writing. She loves to read romance books and feels like being able to lose yourself in a book is one of the more exciting aspects. The books she loves to read and write will be ones that make you feel for the characters. Ashley believes that you should have an opinion on every character in a book whether you love them, hate them, or think they are up to something.

She also believes that the most important critic is your reader, so she loves to hear from the readers. She want her fans to be open & talk to her about what they want for the characters in the story, and what they would like to see happen.